June 03, 2013

It’s time again for another “identify the monuments” photo. This practice has really helped me learn and remember who fought where on the battlefield, and it’s interesting that when I took said photos, I didn’t realize exactly what the monuments were or how many were visible in the background. In this case, I was photographing the area just to the left of the High Water Mark.

 

The closest monument, at center left, is Cowan’s 1ST New York Independent Battery. There are actually two cannon here, though one is hidden in this photo. The large shaft above Cowan’s Battery represents the United States Regular Army. Starting from left to right, the very small flank-marker-size monument just to the right of the shaft is the 80TH New York Infantry.  Beside it is the 82ND New York Infantry, then the 1^ST Minnesota Infantry’s secondary monument. (The first is located near the Pennsylvania State Memorial).

The very tall monument with the figure on top is the Vermont State Memorial. Next to it is the 14^TH Vermont Infantry. The “grooved” monument to the right of the 14^TH represents the 16^TH Vermont Infantry. Just between the last two, more in the foreground, is the 15TH Massachusetts Infantry. The large monument with the pointed top honors the 19TH Maine Infantry. It’s possible that the monument to the right, very far back in the distance, marks the site where Gen. Winfield Hancock was injured. The large granite boulder (which is actually a monument) represents the 20THMassachusetts Infantry. To put the battlefield into perspective, the farm in the right distance is the Abraham Trostle farm located along present-day United States Avenue.

**HONORED TODAY**

LT. AUSTIN NABOS 

Co. G, 2^ND South Carolina Infantry

 

Died July 1863

Lt. Nabos is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, SC, but it wasn’t always that way. Before the 1870s his remains lay at Gettysburg’s huge field hospital known as Camp Letterman, located near the present-day Giant grocery store on York Road. No one seems to have much information or even military records on Lt. Nabos, which seems to indicate that his surname might be misspelled. 


(c) 2013 Skies of Blue and Gray